Thief of Emotions
by bunnypopcorn
Summary: Schoolfic. Haruno Sakura is an ordinary girl starting highschool, but when her crush, Uchiha Sasuke, reveals to her his biggest secret, her world is turned upside down. SasuSaku. Rated T for some swearing.
1. Fear

This is a SasuSaku fanfic that I started the day right after Valentines Day, but never got the chance to finish (and today I finished chapter 1). I hope everybody doesn't get bored reading it.

Please note: This does not happen in the Naruto world. The characters are set in a school-type kind of story, so I hope you all don't mind that!! X3

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Thief of Emotions

Chapter 1 - Fear

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Haruno Sakura, face in pillow, blindly thrust her arm out at the sidetable next to her bed in an attempt to somehow get her irritating alarm clock.

She finally slapped her alarm clock off, and then proceeded to make a mental note never to use an alarm clock again.

Sakura never did like using alarm clocks, and woke up on time most of the time anyways, but today "most of the time" did not fit her, she _had_ to wake up on time today.

Today. Today was the day Sakura would be going to her first day of high school. Yes, she was 14-years old. Not too mature of an age, but when it's your first day in a place called _high_ school, you just have to feel a little proud.

She didn't want to mess up and go to school late on this day. Of course not. Especially when Uchiha Sasuke would be there.

Uchiha Sasuke was an interesting student at their school. The one capable of good grades, but chose not to bother with them. He was a delinquent. One that lived through school without a care and just wanted to get the darn thing over with, but Sakura loved him, careless as he was.

If she wasn't attending a private school, she would've worn the best change of clothes in her closet, but, she did attend a private school, and that meant uniforms.

She sighed. Uniforms. Everyone wore the exact same thing, and _everyday_, too. The only thing you got to choose was what color you wanted your socks to be. How fun.

She combed her rosette hair, silently hoping that nobody would make fun of her hair this year. Every year, _somebody_ would comment on her hair. Whether it was the primary students that called her Bubblegum-Head, or the seniors that would jokingly ask why she dyed all of her hair pink.

It was annoying, or even "troublesome", as her classmate Shikamaru would say. She was born with this odd color of hair. It was never her choice. If someone had asked her before she was born what color she wanted her hair to be, she would've chosen dark blue like Hinata's, or blond like her best friends Ino's, maybe even brunette like Tenten's.

But..._pink_. It stood out in the annual class photos like a sore thumb, and she hated it. She hated how whenever someone opened the school yearbook, everyone would spot her first just because her hair flashed like a pink siren of some sort.

Also, she hated her eye color. Green eyes in general were usually beautiful, but _her_ shade of green was a dull jade. It was the color of murky fish water.

Wow. She was a "Bubblegum-Head" and her eyes represented a dirty fishtank. Wonderful.

Sakura sighed in exhasperation. Sasuke would never feel anything for someone like her. She grabbed a granola bar, her backpack, and opened the door leading to the outside world, "Mom, I'm leaving for school!!" she called.

"Have fun, Honey!!" she heard her mom's voice from somewhere in the house. She guessed it was the kitchen. "Have fun?" she repeated silently to herself, "Who could have fun at a place like that?".

She closed the door with a 'click', and sighed. She wanted to go...and she didn't want to go. Either way, she _had_ to go. She straightened her backpack and walked off the verandah.

As she walked past her father's car she was reminded of when she was in grade JK all the way to grade 8, her father would always drive her to school, and on the way they would always joke and talk in the car.

No, her father hadn't passed away. This year, her parents decided that driving their freshman daughter to school each morning wouldn't help her grow up. Sakura didn't mind this, but she just didn't want her parents thinking that since she was in highschool now, she wasn't their little girl.

She sighed again. 'Look on the bright side, maybe you'll learn something' she thought, and then almost laughed.

Sakura was gifted. In all her years of school, she had not learned much because she had known most of what she was taught already. This was another reason why school was a pain for her. It was so boring, so monotone, so _routine_. Everything was the same everyday.

Making her way out of the neighborhood and onto the main sidewalk, she arrived at the bus stop. This was her first time going on the bus alone, but she wasn't nervous about

it. Well, she wasn't excited either.

She spotted some rough-looking teenage boys who looked like they were at least 2 years older than her. She found a place a bit far from them to wait for the 7 o'clock bus.

'_Oh my gosh_' she thought as she walked by them, '_They smell like alchohol...gross, I don't want to know where they were last night_'. She tried to walk a bit faster. Was there such a thing as 3rd-hand drinking?

Suddenly she felt a cold hand grab her shoulder, she almost had a heart attack as the smell of liquor rose from the clammy hand.

She turned to face the owner of the hand. "Yes?" she asked, in an attempt to sound polite, but the anger in her voice was clear.

"Hey, wanna have some fun with us, girly?" one of the boys asked, smiling through some uncoordinated teeth that were almost yellow.

Sakura cringed at his breath. Yup, he was drunk. "Hey, don't be impolite" another one of the boys said behind him in a jokingly sick voice, "Look, she's wearing a school uniform, she's trying to be a good girl and she's going to school".

The boy that had put his hand on her shoulder pulled her closer to him, as she tried to pull back, and it didn't work. "Trying to resist? C'mon, I know I'm good-looking, so don't try to hide it" he said, smiling again.

"What's to hide?" Sakura asked to herself, secretly hoping one of these sickos wouldn't hear her.

"What did you say!?" the third boy bursted out. Okay, one of them heard.

Sakura glanced at the bystanders. There were businessmen, students from other schools, and old-aged seniors. None of them looked like they cared.

"Don't badmouth us, you bitch!!" the third boy shouted in anger. He moved past the two other boys, and stood in front of Sakura. Eek. He was taller than her by almost a foot.

He didn't hesitate.

**SLAP**

He caught her by surprise. She knew he was mad, but actually using violence? The sting was incredible. She didn't know how hard he had slapped her, but she tasted blood.

She heard the bus drive up and stop. She felt all the bystanders walk past her as she was forcefully pushed aside.

Suddenly she felt angry. Very angry. She didn't care about her reddened cheek, or her bleeding mouth, she wanted payback.

The boys snickered as they walked in the direction of the bus's doors. "Wait right there, you BASTARDS!!" she yelled, arm oustretched with an accusing finger pointed right at the three.

The third boy's face immediately twisted in anger, and he charged at her, "YOU BITCH!!", he shouted, with his fist clutched together, ready to deliver a flying punch.

In a flash, Sakura leaped into the air, and sent her foot flying into the drunkard's face, causing him to stagger back in stunned pain.

She walked closer to him in sheer confidence, "Leave me alone, or I'll kick you where it _hurts_" she warned with clenched teeth.

The boy hurriedly ran into the bus, calling for his buddies to wait for him.

She coolly strolled into the bus, eyes glued to the back of the bus. All the bystanders that had not bothered to even glance at her before were all now staring at her in awe.

She reached the back of the bus, and sat down with a tired sigh, setting her backpack down beside her.

She slouched in her position, engrossed in the after-effect of having a fight with a drunkard. She bounced back up when she noticed someone walking in down the aisle of the bus.

Uchiha Sasuke.

'_Oh my gosh!! Sasuke uses this bus, too!? Did he see that fight!? Oh no, if he did, he'd probably think I was a violent she-bear or something..._' she thought, lowering her head in both embarassment and shame, '_I just suddenly felt angry for some reason..._'.

She raised her head high enough to see Sasuke look around for available seats. Seeing none, he walked until he arrived at the back of the bus, where he discovered a madly blushing Sakura trying to cover her face with her backpack, and it wasn't working.

"Can I sit here?" he asked, pointing to the empty space beside Sakura.

Sakura looked up, "Oh, oh, yeah, you can sit here" she answered, still clutching her backpack as if it held her life.

As he sat down and set his bookbag on his lap, she quickly turned her head away from him. '_Oh, I'm so embarassed!! If he saw me beat up that guy, he must hate me!! He must detest me, he must abhor me, he must-_' her thoughts were interrupted.

"Hey", she turned her head around so fast that her hair flipped as it did in shampoo commercials and she felt a joint somewhere around her neck snap, "OW!!!" she shrieked in pain.

Everybody in the bus turned to stare at Sakura, and the bus driver even glanced at her through the rear-view mirror. Everyone gradually turned around again after they saw that nobody was cruelly murdered.

"Ugh, my neck..." Sakura groaned, rubbing her neck, and then she remembered that Sasuke was still there. She looked over at him, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!! What is it?", she asked.

"You're that girl in my class. Sorry, I've never really noticed you. I'm Uchiha Sasuke" he introduced himself.

"Haruno Sakura" she replied. '_Of course you're Uchiha Sasuke, the whole school knows you, you don't need to waste your breath_' she thought.

When Sasuke didn't reply and turned to look out the window, she knew the conversation was over. Sasuke wasn't much of a social person. She looked out her window, and clutched her backpack harder.

'_If only I knew that I was going to meet Sasuke on the bus this morning, I would've combed my hair more carefully, I would've worn my better pair of shoes, I would've worn my perfume---oh, who am I kidding? Sasuke will never even give me a second thought, I'm not important in his eyes_' she thought, sighing in hopelessness.

She sunk deeper into her seat as she stared out the window at the houses, trees and cars passing her by, '_Life is just a boring, normal old thing. Nothing special ever happens. Life is boring nothingness_' Sakura thought, sighing.

"So you kicked him in the face", Sakura heard Sasuke's stoic voice. She turned her head and looked at him, he was still looking outside. Did he want a reply?

"Uh...um..yeah, I did" Sakura said hesitantly, _'Uh, yeah I did!? Lamest reply EVER!! Sakura, you fail at life!!_' she mentally screamed at herself.

"I'm sorry, that was my fault" Sasuke said, still looking out the window. Sakura leaned forward to sneak a peek at his expression, and he was half-smiling.

"What?" Sakura figured she misheard him, since "I'm sorry, that was my fault" sounded a bit irrelevent to their conversation. If you could even call it a conversation.

He turned from the window to look at her with his half-smile. "I said 'I'm sorry, that was my fault'", Sasuke repeated.

Sakura said nothing, but her expression showed confusion and bewilderment. What he said wasn't getting through to her. What did that mean?

Sasuke read her face, and sighed exasperatedly, "You can keep a secret, can't you?", he asked, almost in a lazy tone, leaning back against the bus seat.

"HUH!?" Sakura bursted out and had an even more confused expression in her eyes. '_Is Sasuke gonna tell a secret!? Oh no!! I'm not ready for this!! He's gonna tell me something like who he likes, and I don't want to hear it!! I don't want to hear it!!!_' Sakura thought.

"Oh, no, no...NO!" Sakura bursted out again, "No, I can't keep a secret. I'm not good with secrets. Don't tell me any secrets unless you want the whole school to know!!".

Flashback

"Sakura!! Hey, Sakuraaa!!" Ino whisper-shouted to Sakura at her locker, after a tiring gym class. Sakura turned around with a face that read "Huh?".

"Come here, billboard-brow!!" Ino whisper-shouted again in impatience, adding on Sakura's childhood nickname.

Sakura's face fell, and she walked over to Ino.

"How long have I been telling you not to call me that!? Since we were SIX!!" Sakura whisper-yelled along with Ino.

"Right, right, whateverrr!!" Ino whisper-yelled, in a hurry to get to the point, "Look, I have a HUGE secret".

Sakura smiled a bit. Nobody had ever shared a secret with her.

"Okay, okay, my secret is...that I'm really REALLY mad at Temari for stealing Shikamaru!!" Ino whisper-shouted with anger in her voice, her hands enclosed into tight fists as she growled at nobody.

"Oh yeah, those two are dating now, aren't they?" Sakura asked, smiling, quite oblivious to Ino's feelings.

"YEAH, and I HATE IT!! Just promise not to tell anyone, okay? I just needed to vent!!" Ino reasoned unreasonably.

"I won't tell!! Cross my heart, hope to die" Sakura said, hands at her hips, and then pointed her thumb at herself, "You can count on Saku-chan to keep your secret safe!!".

"Great, Sakura!! Thanks just soo much!! I'd stay to chat, but I've really gotta go to my biology class!! See ya!" Ino waved as she ran down the hallway with an armful of books.

Sakura sighed, '_My first secret_', she giggled to herself and skipped happily to the changerooms to change from her gym uniform.

Her blind skipping caused her to bump into someone. A certain someone. In other words: Temari.

"Oh, I'm sorry!! That was my bad!! Are you okay?" Sakura apologetically exclaimed, standing up immediately and helping Temari up.

"I'm alright, it was my fault also", Temari replied as she laughed loosely.

When Temari got a good look at Sakura, she exclaimed "Oh, hey! You're that...GIRL! With the pink hair!!", pointing at her.

"Uh...yeah, that's me.." Sakura said flatly, 'I'm known as that girl with the pink hair, huh?' she thought.

"So you're in class 8! You must know Ino, right?" Temari asked.

"I do" Sakura said, 'I do!? What, am I getting married or something?' she thought.

"Oh good. Look, uh...is she alright with y'know...Shika-kun and I? 'Cause I know she's had a crush on Shika-kun for a while and it must've really hurt her when I started dating him, so is she okay?" Temari asked, concerned.

Sakura paused, and stared into space for a moment, "Uh...she's fine with it!! I mean like...it's not

like she hates you-" Sakura realized what she said, and tried to cover up, "...I mean uh---I-it's not like she's super mad that you stole Shikamaru from her or anything", she realized what she said again, and then hesitated.

"Uh...er...uh---um....!!" Sakura became overwhelmed by her own words. Temari's expression read "confused" all over it.

"I-I-I..." Sakura bowed swiftly and then turned and ran out of the changerooms, "...I'm sorry!! Everything is all my fault!!".

A few seconds later, Ino walked in, "Hey, what's up with Sakura?" she asked, pointing a thumb at the door.

"I honestly don't know" Temari said, putting on a concerned face. This was something the two agreed on.

End Flashback

"No really, don't tell me" Sakura said, clutching her backpack and waving a finger in front of Sasuke's face.

Sasuke stared at her for a while, and then finally said "Fine", and turned back to the window.

Sakura loosened up, sighing, and turned back to her window.

In a swift motion, Sasuke leaned in to her closely and whispered, "I can steal emotions".

Not even letting the words register in her mind, Sakura turned "I told you not to tell me!!", then she thought, '_Wait...his secret is...that he can steal emotions?_'.

"Wait wait wait---" Sakura said, "What? You can steal emotions?". Sasuke made stupid jokes?

Sakura found this funny, and started giggling, covering her mouth with her hand in attempts to stop laughing. Sasuke stared at her with an irritated expression and waited for her to stop. After a while, Sakura calmed down "I'm sorry, but that was pretty funny, your jokes aren't funny, but the way you say them makes them funny".

Sasuke sighed exasperatedly, "At the bus stop, you felt a sudden burst of anger and courage, and picked a fight with those people, didn't you?" he asked.

Sakura's smiling face became shocked, "How do you know how I felt!?", she clutched her backpack harder.

"Didn't I tell you?" Sasuke asked, smiling just a tad, "I can steal emotions".

Sakura fell into a pit of realization. "Wait, so...WHAT HAPPENED!?" she asked, putting on a face that read "What the heck is going on!?".

"When you we being harassed by those guys, the bus came and a wave of people walked past you, and that time, I touched your hand and stole every drop of your fear. You didn't feel me touch you because there were too many people pushing against you" Sasuke explained to an amazed Sakura.

"Woah!! So the reason I kicked that guy in the face was because of you!?" Sakura asked in amazement.

Sasuke nodded knowledgably.

"Wooaahhh!!!" Sakura said in awe, "You don't just walk around carelessly stealing peoples' emotions, do you!?" she asked.

"No, I just figured you'd get in trouble if you hung with those people" Sasuke reasoned.

Sakura mentally screamed with joy '_He was concerned about me!! A lowly bubblegum-head like me!!_' she thought.

"Okay, okay, I want some more proof, here" Sakura held out her hand to Sasuke, "Okay, steal my uh....exhaustion, or lethargy, or...y'know, whatever it's called. You get the idea".

Sasuke said nothing, but gently took her hand into his, and closed his eyes. Sakura blushed at this. Sasuke was holding her hand!

Then she felt the energy in her build up, '_Whoa, what the..._' she thought, and without thinking, whipped her hand out of Sasuke's grasp.

Sasuke opened his eyes to look at why Sakura had taken her hand back. Then he knew. He had taken so much exhaustion from her that she was now wildly energetic.

Sakura pressed her face against the window, "We're HEEEEERRRREEE!!!!!!!!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, her face glued to the window, leaning over Sasuke's lap, making him wonder why she wasn't looking at the window on her side.

"Our stop is just a short walk from the school" Sasuke said, as Sakura flung herself away from the window. "Then LET'S GO!! What're you waiting for!?" she grabbed his hand and jetted down the aisle of the bus.

As the bus driver pressed the button that opened the doors, Sakura flung her and Sasuke out of the bus and into the air. Her foot made contact with the ground and she picked up speed, racing down the streets of Tokyo with a Sasuke in her hand dangling behind her.

Sasuke gripped her hand harder and shut his eyes. In a moment, he drained away all her hyperactiveness. _All_ of it.

He felt Sakura slow down considerably, and then suddenly drop to the ground---then he heard snoring. He chuckled, and gently picked her up bridal style, walking casually in the direction of the school.

-

Please don't expect any frequent updating. I'm going through exams right now, and updates will probably occur during my summer vacation :).

Ciao for now,

Ku


	2. Confidence

Thief of Emotions

Chapter 2 - Confidence

Upon reaching the school, he stole just enough of her exhaustion for her to awake. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, and soon realized she was in the arms of who she thought was just about the best guy in the world.

Her face turned cherry red, darker than her hair. He glanced down at her, "We've reached the school" he said casually as he let her get onto the ground.

He fixed his backpack a little on his back, as Sakura's dragging him across the streets of Tokyo had caused it go just a _little_ off.

She stood, still blushing, staring at the Sasuke's back as he walked farther away from her and closer to the gargantuan high school building.

'_Maybe we're a little closer_' Sakura thought with hope in her jade orbs, her hands folded together against her chest. Her eyes blurred, '_What am I thinking? This happens to him everyday...I'm just another girl_'.

She hung her head in disappointment, '_This sucks..._'.

"Sakura-chan!!" a certain arrogant blond boy waved wildly to the rosette-haired girl. The blond boy, who went by the name of Uzumaki Naruto, ran over to her, and asked cheerfully "Can you believe it? We're in high school now, dattebayo!!", he laughed out loud with his hands proudly on his hips.

Sakura, who had not lifted her head at all, just mumbled "Mm-hmm..". His smile turned into a curious straight line, "You don't look as happy as I thought you'd be".

Sakura looked up at him slightly with a crooked smile, "I-I'm happy" she lied. He stared at her for a few seconds, and then shouted, "Oh, I see now!! Good to hear!! Let's go see our new lockers, dattebayo!!".

'_New lockers? But don't they all look identical?_' Sakura asked herself before she felt a strong tug at the back of her collar, and noticed that Naruto was trying to urge her to move.

She gave in, and started walking, "Did you do any shopping for school?" Naruto asked, clearly showing that he was attempting to start a conversation, but with the most boring topic ever.

Sakura's eyes shifted over to him, "Mmm..not really, I thought that the stuff from last year was good enough to last this year" she said, boredom dripping from her voice, something Naruto was blind to.

"Oh, REALLY!? Wow, I bought so much stuff, dattebayo!! I found this awesome tiny instant ramen bowl thing and it held erasers!! And when I opened it, there were little ramen-shaped erasers in it, dattebayo!!" he squealed a happy squeal, remembering the precious moment.

'_Wow, I'm shocked he didn't buy it_' Sakura thought, imagining the blond boy's eyes sparkling as he slowly and carefully opened a minuscule little instant ramen bowl, and a ray of light coming in through the window, shining right on the ramen-shaped erasers. Then angels in Heaven sang "hallelujah" as Naruto stared in disbelief at this wonderful sight.

"And I had just enough to buy it!!" Naruto said in excitement, hitting Sakura with reality once again. '_Oh, so he bought it_' Sakura thought as Naruto searched his bag for his dear treasure, and then pulled it out.

He placed it on his palm as if it was a baby bird, and slowly placed it in front of Sakura's eyes. She examined it to see why Naruto had found it so whimsical.

It resembled a real instant ramen bowl, except it was...really tiny. There was a picture of a bowl of ramen on it, along with words in big print "INSTANT RAMEN". The background was orange-ish red-ish, and it was clearly made of plastic.

"And that's not even the good part, dattebayo!!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. He placed his free hand on the cover of the bowl and whispered "Wait for it..._wait...for...it..._".

"BAM!!" he shouted as he opened the instant ramen bowl. Sakura peered inside. There were two little pale yellow erasers that were shaped like chunks of instant ramen. Sakura thought this was beyond boring, but didn't want to hurt her friend's feelings.

She glanced at his happy face that said "See? Isn't it awesome?" all over it, and back to the mini ramen bowl.

"It's...uh...wow, yeah...it's really...something", "I _know_!! Aren't they just _amazing_!? It just doesn't get any better than this!!" Naruto shut the ramen bowl and brought it to his cheek, cuddling the ramen bowl as if it were a hamster.

Sakura stared at this strange scenario, and then tried to change the subject, "Well! Er...hey, let's go to class, or we'll be late".

Naruto put on an expression of realization, "Sakura-chan, you're absolutely right, dattebayo!!", he scrambled to carefully place the ramen bowl into his backpack again and then outstretched his arm, pointing to the school, "Let's go, dattebayo!!".

Naruto's free hand grabbed Sakura's, and urged her to move at a faster pace. Sakura laughed lightly. Over the summer, Naruto had grown physically, but his mind was still that of a child's.

Inside the school building, Naruto spotted one of his best friends. The brunette boy with red marks on his face and dog-like eyes, the boy that went by the name Inuzuka Kiba, waved lightly and passed the two, going in the opposite direction.

Sakura managed to catch a glance of Akamaru peeking out of Kiba's backpack, and giggled. In middle school, Kiba was always trying to sneak his little buddy into school, and Sakura predicted that he would try the same antics again in high school.

"Hmm, let's see...the grade 9 lockers..." Sakura put her index finger to her chin, putting on a thinking expression. Her eyes wandered around, and landed on a specific hallway, "Oh, they're there, right?".

"I dunno" was Naruto's dumbfounded answer. Sakura sweatdropped, "U-umm..I'm pretty sure they're there, come on" she said, walking towards said hallway, '_What would become of him if I wasn't here?_' she wondered as Naruto followed her, with no choice and half-expecting his smart pink-haired friend would know where she was going.

Sakura stared down the long hallway, walls covered with turquoise-colored lockers. She recognized some faces: Hyuuga Hinata, the shy blue-haired girl that had had a crush on Naruto since elementary school, Yamanaka Ino, her best friend that loved gossip and lipgloss, and Tenten, the athletic brunette girl that always wore her hair in two buns and was friends with that boy with the bushy eyebrows, shiny hair, and participated in all the sports events.

Sakura peeked into the empty classroom. There were new posters, cupboards, and more desks. Then she noticed a specific someone standing amidst the array of empty desks.

She blushed a tad, it was Sasuke. Especially in the white dress shirt outlining his tall skinny body, it wasn't a wonder why so many girls were after him. The sunlight poured in through the wide and gigantic windows, showering him in a beautiful light that made him look like an angel.

Sasuke's focus seemed to be on a specific desk in the center of the classroom. It was probably his. He peered down on it with his usual stoic expression, brushing his slender fingers across it. It seemed like he really cherished this...desk. Sakura thought this to be a little odd, but brushed it off as something cute the boy did.

**BBBBBRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!**

Sakura winced as the nine 'o' clock bell rang in her ears. Was it just her, or was it louder than last year's? Before she could gather her thoughts once more, she felt a crowd of people ram into her, and then proceed to trample over her to get into the classroom.

Naruto stood and watched as the trampling of Haruno Sakura took place, unmoving with his eyes as wide as saucers. As a blond, his usual slow reaction kicked in about right after the last student had entered the classroom, stepping on Sakura in the process.

"Woah, Sakura-chan!! Are you 'kay!?" he exclaimed with concern, staring down at Sakura, who was down flat on the tile floor. Arms and feet outstretched limply, with footprints all over her once-white dress shirt.

Sakura glanced up slowly, "Y-yeah, I'm okay", she groaned in slight pain. As Naruto offered a hand, she grabbed it and struggled to stand up. She looked up at the class. Phew, everyone was engaged in conversation (and not staring at her), trying to have a little fun before the teacher came in to shut them all up.

...No, not everyone was engaged in conversation. To be more specific, everone but Uchiha Sasuke was engaged in conversation. He was staring right at Sakura with a little look of amusement. Sakura stared at the ground, embarrassed right to the point that she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

"Naruto and Sakura, please take your seats" ordered a certain teacher. Naruto and Sakura turned sheepishly to face one of the best-known teachers in the school. The one that wore a mask wherever he went, and of course, we all know who that was...

"Kakashi-sensei!!" Sakura exclaimed, now even more embarrassed. Naruto ignored the fact that the teacher had walked in on them not in their seats, "You're late!!" Naruto accused, pointing his index finger in Kakashi's expressionless, masked face.

Sakura scrambled off to get to her seat, as she left Naruto alone with his finger still pointed at Kakashi to defend for himself. The entire rest of the class watched in an entertained silence.

Kakashi gently used his hand to shove Naruto's hand down, "Please don't point that at me, who knows where it's been" he said, a noticeable smile forming underneath his mask as he spoke.

Naruto lowered his hand, blushing as he heard the giggles of his classmates. He turned and trudged to his seat in the back of the class.

Kakashi sauntered over to his desk and eyed his students, as if inspecting to see if they were worthy enough to teach. "So", he clasped his hands together, "Let's get started with first period".

There was a long pause, as the classroom stayed silent. Kakashi stood unmoving. Sakura shifted her eyes, noticing the awkward moment.

"...What's for first period?" Kakashi's voice rose above the silence.

Some of the students expressed looks that showed they weren't quite fond of this teacher, not even knowing what was for first period on a Monday morning. "H-health class" stuttered a soft voice in the back of the room, which of course belonged to Hinata.

"AH!! Sex ed!!" Kakashi smiled through his translucent mask. The class didn't seem very surprised that this was a subject he enjoyed teaching, considering he walked around with that perverted book all day, hiding it whenever the principal came down the hall so he wouldn't get sacked.

"'Kay, first I'll pass out this pamphlet, read it carefully, and use it in your everyday life!!" Kakashi said, fanning himself with one of the pamphlets. Sakura couldn't help but think '_Wow, use it in your everyday life? Like using it to fan yourself?_'.

As Kakashi went up and down the rows, handing a pamphlet to each and every student, he hummed out loud a random little tune. As Kakashi went down Sakura's row, he laid one down on her desk. She eyed it carefully, as she glanced around the classroom and saw Kiba snickering at the illustrations, she rolled her eyes.

She then scanned the classroom for Sasuke. '_What? I don't see him? But I just saw him like 5 minutes ago, right?_' Sakura thought as she didn't see her emotionless crush anywhere.

She felt a light tap on her shoulder and whipped around to see who it was. Her face became the shade of a strawberry. Sasuke...was sitting behind her!! And he would be until the end of first semester!!

She tried to keep her mind straight and asked "Why'd you tap me?" in the most normal voice she could muster up, which wasn't very normal-sounding. Of course, she was blushing like crazy, so she started fanning herself with the pamphlet like her sensei.

"Good luck" he said with his unreadable poker face. She felt like flying!! He wished her good luck!! She stared into space with a blissful expression for a few seconds, and then suddenly reality hit her, "Wait---good luck for what?".

Before Sasuke could respond, Kakashi had finished giving out the pamphlets and had made his way back to the front of the classroom. "Alright, everyone, if you've ever been in my sex ed. class in previous years, you'll know that I don't just _accept_ students right off the bat!! I give out a test!! If you fail, you're not attending my sex ed. class this year!!" he said. Sakura swore she could see the shape of a smile through his navy mask.

Mumbles and whispers of "That's not fair" and "What a mean teacher" could be heard as Kakashi waved a stack of papers, presumably the test, in front of the class to show he was serious, and began passing them out.

As a test was put down on Sakura's desk, she started sweating. She knew nothing about sex ed.!! It was Kakashi's job to teach her about it,_ then_ test her. Not test her,_ then_ teach her about it.

She clutched the HB pencil in her right hand shakily, feeling sweat collect in her fist. She started scribbling down answers that sounded like they made sense, but obviously she didn't even know what made sense in sex ed.

She glanced around to see if anyone was having the same problem as her. Not really. They all seemed like they would have trouble passing, but none of them had the same problem as her.

Kiba would read a question, and then struggle to hold in his laughter. Sakura rolled her eyes. As expected from a pervert.

Hinata's face was the shade of a cherry as she sat motionless in her seat, her bangs covering her eyes. Sakura watched as Hinata's pencil fell from her still hand, landing on the floor with a gentle wooden sound that was drowned out by Kiba's muffled giggles.

She glanced at Naruto, who was looking around him desperately as if searching for something. Oh, he lost his pencil. Poor guy.

She looked over at Lee, who's eyes had fire in them as his pencil moved like a hummingbird's wings. Okay, he probably wasn't having trouble.

She sighed and looked back at her test. She penciled in the last answers by instinct like she had with all her others. She looked over her answers, spotting about twenty that were probably wrong, but she couldn't think of anything better.

After a few minutes, Kakashi came around to collect the tests. Sakura turned to face Sasuke, with her saddened expression she asked drearily, "How do you think you did?".

He blinked, "Bad". She was slightly suspicious why he could say that and not be bothered. No, he probably did good. Sasuke was an A+ student. His definition of "bad" was probably A.

"I think I did awful. I was so nervous the whole time. I didn't know anything. It was like I totally lost all my confidence" she said and sighed. Then suddenly her eyes became wide.

_Lost all my confidence._

She stared at Sasuke with her eyes unbelievably wide, not wanting to believe what she thought, "You...!!" was all she could say, she was too shocked. Sasuke had a questioning look on his face, obviously meaning he didn't know what she was saying.

"You...did something" she said said, pointing an accusing finger. He did something? Wow, great job, Sakura. But his expression made her reconsider, maybe she just had low self-esteem to begin with. Also, if he'd stolen any of her confidence, when did he?

"Yeah, I did do something" Sasuke said in an indifferent voice. Aha!! Sakura knew she was right, she just wasn't sure for a split second, that's all.

Turned around in her seat to face him, she leaned in closer as if she was about to slap him and wanted to cause more pain by moving closer. "When?" she demanded boldly, as if she was a police interrogating a criminal.

He didn't move an inch, just blinked, "When I tapped you on your shoulder to wish you good luck". Sakura's jaw dropped open. Of course. When he did that, it wasn't because he wanted her to do a good job, it was because he wanted her to do a _bad_ job, since that's clearly what he was trying to do by stealing every last drop of her confidence!!

She turned back to face the front and sighed, '_I thought Sasuke was a nice guy, now I know that he uses his powers for evil like...like...making people fail sex ed. tests. Sheesh, now my parents are gonna get mad_' Sakura thought, rubbing her temples as if she had a headache. She probably did.

Sakura made up her mind, '_That's it. Sasuke's a jerk. I'm never speaking to him again!!_' she thought angrily, crossing her arms with a slightly audible 'hmpf'.

Sakura's mind was redirected back to Kakashi as he glanced at his watch and said "Wow, look at the time, a test really is time-consuming" he said, making a mental note to make his students take more tests so he'd have more quality time with Icha Icha, "Well, class dismissed, and all you guys come back for the next class 'cause I'm announcing who passed and who failed. Oh, and cherish that next class, 'cause it could be your last. Muahahaha" he threw in the menacing laugh for effect, not really scaring much students, but definitely weirding out a good number of them.

Sakura got up from her desk in an instant, as if she didn't want to be so close to Sasuke the (presumed) jerk. Her arms still folded, she sauntered out the door. Sasuke, being the thief of emotions, obviously sensed how she felt, and who wouldn't? Considering all of her confidence had just been stolen (by her crush, but Sasuke didn't know that) and made her crash and burn on the sex ed. "entrance exam".

Sasuke knew she was angry, and the best treatment for anger was to leave them alone to cool off, but he couldn't do that. He had told her a major secret (for reasons that will be revealed later) and who knows what angry Sakura could spill when she was on the prowl.

He got up and left the classroom, eyes swerving around in attempts to find Sakura, which wasn't supposed to be hard at all, considering she_ was _a bubblegum-head.

He walked down the hallways at a slightly faster pace, peeking inside classrooms for a flash of pink. He glanced at his watch, '_Next period is in 5 minutes_' he thought, estimating how long it would take to scout the whole school, find Sakura, get her to calm down before she said something she'd regret, and get to his next class.

'_Meh, 5 minutes will do_' he thought as he continued looking for Sakura.

Less than 5 minutes later...

He had basically turned the school upside-down looking for her. He'd gone from the rat-infested basement to the dusty rooftop. Now on the rooftop, he was wondering '_Where else is there?_'.

Then he heard the voice of Maito Gai, the "spirited" gym teacher counting out loud. His eyes widened slightly '_The outdoors gym class, of course_' he stood over the edge of the roof and looked down.

Sure enough, there was Sakura, doing push-ups with some other students. As Gai shouted out "FIFTY!!" in triumph and Sakura stood up slowly, sweating noticeable. He gave her a pat on the back, "Good job!! You did better than usual today!! Something really got your blood boiling!!" he laughed.

Sasuke smirked, yeah, she was angry. He had just decided to make his way down to the ground floor and calm Sakura down when Gai spotted him. His expression became shocked. Sasuke questioned in his mind why he looked so shocked. Was it so rare that someone stood on a roof?

Gai whipped out a walky-talky and said, "We've got a code 187 on the roof". Sakura heard him. She looked up and saw him. She blushed, but then remembered she was angry at him. But even if she was angry, she had to wonder why he was on the roof---looking at _her_.

She blushed deeper, mentally slapping herself, '_Get a hold of yourself!! You're angry at him!!_'. Sasuke just stood on the roof and watched, apparently he hadn't seen Gai pull out the walky-talky. Sakura also wondered what a "code 187" was.

Just as she wondered this, the two teachers Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai appeared a close distance behind Sasuke on the roof. Sakura's eyes widened. Sasuke didn't seem to realize they were there.

"Uchiha Sasuke!!" Kurenai shouted. He whipped around in surprise. "Sasuke, back away from the edge of the roof, I repeat, back away" Asuma said in a cautious tone. His expression read "WTF Is going on?" and didn't budge, he wouldn't do anything unless he knew the reason for it.

"BACK AWAY" Kurenai demanded more loudly this time. Sasuke was irritated now, "Why?". They didn't answer him, instead Asuma shouted, "DO NOT JUMP!! I REPEAT, DO NOT JUMP!!".

Sakura gasped, '_Sasuke's going to suicide!?_'.

-

Haha XD. Misunderstandings are fun. Anyways, I'm in Washington DC right now, on vacay. Yes, I'm in a hotel room writing fanfics like back when I wrote "My Hotel Roommate".

The ramen bowl thing was a true experience. I once DID buy one of those and lent it to my friend (who lost it XP).

I hope it wasn't obvious that Sasuke stole her confidence when he tapped her on the shoulder. In the future I'll try to make it seem less obvious when he touches her (wow, that didn't come out right).

Once again, please don't expect frequent updates :D.

Ciao for now,

Ku


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